President Barack Obama has attempted to recast the image of America in the
eyes of the Muslim world, calling for an end to a "cycle of suspicion
and discord" between the West and Islam.

In a speech given to an audience at Cairo University but directed at more than 1 billion Muslims around the world, he said a "new partnership" would stress common principles between civilisations.

"So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace, and who promote conflict rather than the co-operation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity," he said. "This cycle of suspicion and discord must end.

"I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect."

The speech, which he had promised to make even before he was elected, was the centrepiece of his tour of the Middle East which also included talks with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

He met the long-serving President Hosni Mubarak before going on to the university, and ended the day with a trip to the Pyramids.

Some even compared his mission to the celebrated Cold War speeches of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan in Berlin.

His words were warmly received by the hand-picked audience of politicians, clerics and students but received a mixed response from more hard-line Islamist groups, some of whom were also invited to attend but formed a minority in the domed hall of the university.

He made no major policy announcements, though he issued an unusually strong public call for Israel to help forge a new Palestinian state. He reiterated his demand that Israel stop building settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. But he was careful to balance every position and also stated that the bond between America and Israel was "unbreakable".

While he won applause for suggesting that the use of torture by American troops and the Guantánamo Bay prison camp were "contrary to our ideals" he also gave a stern defence of the broad sweep of American history and policy.

"The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known," he said, adding a clear, if not explicit, argument for continuing American military might.

"We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words – within our borders, and around the world."

Mr Obama's speech was released in 13 languages and distributed by email, text message and even twitter around the world.

He quoted liberally from the Koran, and was careful to use history, both national and personal, to appeal to the sensibilities of his audience of more than 1 billion Muslims.

He greeted them first with the Arabic greeting "Assalaam alaykoum", or "Peace on you" and then went on to outline ways in which he felt the Muslim world had suffered at the hands of the West.

"Tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations," he said.

But he also made clear that he regarded the events of September 11, 2001, as an important turning point. "Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims," he said.

He paid tribute to the cultural glories of the Arab world. "It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed," he said.

But he also demanded respect in return for American history. "Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire," he said.

As he has done before, he used his personal story to encourage his audience to identify with him, referring to his father's Muslim heritage.

"Much has been made of the fact that an African-American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President," he said.

"But my personal story is not so unique. The dream of opportunity for all people has not come true for everyone in America, but its promise exists for all who come to our shores."

That included 7 million American Muslims whose incomes and education levels were higher than average.

"Let there be no doubt: Islam is a part of America," he said.

He then moved on to more controversial topics.

Israel

Mr Obama's analysis of the long-running sore of the conflict in Israel and the occupied territories was the most carefully nuanced of all the speech's sections.

He started out by insisting the US-Israel relationship was unbreakable, not just for political reasons but because of "cultural and historical ties".

But he made a two-state solution and an end to settlement expansion central to his arguments on bringing an end to the conflict.

"Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's," he said.

"The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements... It is time for these settlements to stop."

But he made demands in return for this acknowledgement of Arab grievance. Arab countries should stop using the conflict as an excuse not to tackle their own problems, or to recognise Israel and seek peace.

Violent Extremism

While he has jettisoned the use of the term "War on Terror", Mr Obama made no bones that the defence of America remained his first priority, placing it ahead of a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

He said that while America was not "at war with Islam" it would "relentlessly confront" violent extremists.

Without explicitly demanding the support of the Muslim world, he argued that these extremists had killed more Muslims than members of other faiths.

He defended the war in Afghanistan, saying it was undertaken out of necessity, not choice, in contrast to Iraq.

Obama said the United States had no interest in keeping military bases in Afghanistan and said Washington had a responsibility to "leave Iraq to Iraqis" and build a better future for them.

But even on Iraq he claimed that the country was better off in the long run "without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein".

Iran and Nuclear Weapons

Mr Obama began his section on Iran with an apology on behalf of the West, making a rare admission that the CIA was responsible for toppling a democratically elected government. The coup against Mohammed Mossadeq in 1953 is blamed by many for Iran's descent into authoritarianism.

Balancing this against Iran's kidnapping of American diplomats after the 1979 revolution, he said he was prepared to look forward with "mutual respect", his watchwords throughout the speech.

But again he left fundamental policy unchanged: Iran's nuclear policies had reached a "decisive point".

"This is not simply about America's interests," he said. "It is about preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East."

But Mr Obama said Iran had the right to peaceful nuclear power, adding: "No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons".

Democracy

Mr Obama had suggested beforehand that human rights concerns and the promotion of democracy would play second fiddle to strategic issues.

"America does not presume to know what is best for everyone. No system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other," he said, a decisive break from the neoconservative rhetoric of the Bush years.

But he did insist that freedom of speech, participation in government, and the rule of law were human rights.

He named no names – certainly not that of his host, President Mubarrak. But he may have had him in mind when he said: "Elections alone do not make true democracy."

Mr Mubarrak, who has ruled since 1981, finally submitted to an election in 2005, after which he had his principal opponent, Ayman Nour, jailed on fraud charges.

Mr Nour was in the audience yesterday.

Religious Freedom

Mr Obama called for tolerance of other faiths, but had harsh words for some in the Muslim world.

"Among some Muslims, there is a disturbing tendency to measure one's own faith by the rejection of another's," he said.

By contrast, he said he wanted to ensure that Muslims in America were able to fulfil their religious obligations.

Women's Rights

The many women in the audience, including a large number of students wearing hijab, were clearly delighted with Mr Obama's stress on education as a way of advancing women's rights.

Mr Obama showed signs of the extensive advice he has sought from Muslim academics by accepting that a woman who wore a headscarf could still be considered equal.

But he insisted that whether to live by traditional rules should still remain a woman's choice.

Economic Development

Mr Obama argued that America could help Muslim societies make economic progress without any threat to their traditional cultures.

"Trade can bring new wealth and opportunities, but also huge disruptions and changing communities," he said. "But I also know that human progress cannot be denied. There need not be contradiction between development and tradition."